14 DAY TRIAL // The United Nations has decided to take a stand against what can only be construed as international neglect of the world's species. While naturalists and biologists have been drawing attention to the fact that the planet is losing biodiversity at an alarming rate, authorities and governments seem more than unwilling to actually do anything about it. As a result, the UN has decided to launch the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB), beginning today, January 11, the BBC News reports.
In 2002, a number of governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The way things are going, it's pretty clear that this promise is not going to be kept, the UN says. The main factors that threaten the world's animal species are expanding human infrastructure, sprawling cities and intensive, large-scale farming. Gradually, these three chip away at the natural environment a lot of species are accustomed to. Adapting to a particular environment is not an easy job, and many species took millions of years before finally learning how to exploit their ecosystem, and how to interact with each other.
According to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, “Business as usual is not an option.” He argues that species are currently lost at a rate that is about 1,000 times higher than the natural, or background, one, and that measures have to be taken internationally as fast as possible. The official is scheduled to speak at the IYB opening, in the German capital Berlin, alongside Prime Minister Angela Merkel.
“We are facing an extinction crisis. The loss of this beautiful and complex natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future,” International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Director Jane Smart says. The IUCN is a biodiversity conservation group. Independent analysis has confirmed that, in spite of some regional success in combating species lost, overall, things are looking pretty bleak. In fact, it may be that the loss rate has increased, rather than decreased.
“The big opportunity during the International Year of Biodiversity is for governments to do for biodiversity what they failed to do for climate change in Copenhagen. They have the chance to make a major difference; and key to this will be halting species extinctions, the most irreversible aspect of biodiversity loss,” the IUCN Species Survival Commission chair, Simon Stuart, says. He is also the senior science advisor for the group Conservation International.